Name: Griffin

Breed: African grey

Age: 5

Parents: Alex (the famous African grey) and unknown mother

Siblings: unknown

Eye color: pale yellow

Voice: Michael Bublé

Mate: Talina (c) Jordan.

Likes: Talina, watching Carnaval, Rio de Janeiro, not being in a laboratory anymore, flying

Dislikes: mean and abusive birds, seeing others being hurt or harmed

Personality: He is highly intelligent, and easily bored. He's not comfortable around strangers, and doesn't react well to changes in routine or structure. He is somewhat curious and likes to explore. Sometimes can be quite temperamental, and is known to be nippy. He is sometimes quiet, but can also be extremely talkative. He is fond and protective of Talina, and is completely devoted to her.

History: He hatched in a lab at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1998. His father was Alex, the famous African grey used in avian intelligence and learning experiments, and his mother was another African grey kept in the same lab. He was named for his father's successor. When Griffin was a year old, Alex's owner, animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, started using him in the same experiments as his father. Griffin tired of this quickly. When he was two, he was sent to another laboratory in Rio de Janeiro for further experimentation because he couldn't get along with his father's successor. A few hours after he arrived at the lab, he escaped, despite all the security. Griffin alighted on a tree branch in the forest outside the city, and soon fell asleep. The next day, he started to explore the city, and started seeing "Lost Bird" flyers with his picture on them, offering a hefty reward for his return. Griffin laid low until the heat was off and the flyers were taken down. He still kept a low profile though, because he didn't want to go back to the lab again.

A few months later, it was evening and he was on his way back to the tree, when he heard a female bird crying. When he found the bird, a small budgie, he landed a couple feet from her. She turned her eyes toward him briefly. When the crying had subsided, he asked what was wrong. The budgie told him she didn't want to talk about it, but in Portuguese, a language with which Griffin was unfamiliar with. When the budgie stopped crying, she looked so sad Griffin just had to go over and comfort her, as a kind gesture. Griffin said nothing, just gave her a brief, gentle reassuring hug with his wing. The budgie turned her eyes up to look at him and smiled ever so subtlely, then turned her eyes away and closed them. Griffin slowly but gently put his wing around her again, and looked at the budgie, who looked at him again, then slowly fell asleep; though the two had never met before, Griffin could tell the budgie was already starting to feel comfortable around him. When the smaller bird was fast asleep, he quietly flew to another branch just a couple feet away. When he awoke the next day, the budgie was asleep on the same branch he was on, again with a sad look on her face. Griff was mystified why she was still sad, since she had been so nice the day before. Then he realized she was interested in him. "Cual e seu nome?" ("What is your name?" in Portuguese), asked the budgie. Back at the university in Massachusetts, Griffin had heard a few words in Spanish, so he didn't understand most of what this bird had just asked, but the only one he did understand was "nome", since he was familar with the Spanish "nombre" (or "name"). So he told her his name, but in English. The two tried to start a converstation, but that didn't last long because of the language barrier.

A few days later, Griffin found himself starting to like Talina, though she didn't speak the same language. It started with him being unable to sleep one night because he saw her every time he closed his eyes. Soon after that, he started to develop feelings for her. Talina was starting to be more talkative than the day they had first met. Every time they spent time with each other during the following few months, Griff's feelings for the budgie grew stronger, and the two were growing closer and closer. Soon he could take his feelings for her no longer. Griffin and Talina were watching a Carnaval parade (it had come up in conversation earlier that day that Tal had heard Carnaval on the radio back when she was a pet, and Griffin was curious as to what Carnaval was, so he had brought Talina to watch). Later, after the parade was over for the night, they confessed their feelings for each other, and Griffin was about to pop the question to Talina, but he needed a few minutes to work up the courage to say so. Just as he was about to, he noticed Tal looking to her side at seemingly nothing, and she was smiling and crying. Griff got Tal's attention, and popped the question. Still smiling and crying, she said yes, and tucked her head into the feathers on Griffin's chest. The two love each other more than anything.

Relation to Rio: lives in Rio de Janeiro, his mate knows Rafael